[thechat] "I guess we'll buy them"

[deke]

On 19 Sep 2001, at 3:06, Ron White posted a message which said:

> <snip>
> The *real* solution, though, would be to buy *Israel*.
> Much of this hostility comes from the fact that it was
> created by taking land from people who had inhabited
> it for thousands of years. The country has only existed
> about 50 years, and most of the Jewish citizenry has
> been there less than half that time.
> </snip>
 
> Land taken from others?? Not true in any way, shape or form... First off,
> the Jews have lived in Palestine for over 4000 years certainly LONG before
> the Muslims arrived in the 600's. They were booted out off THEIR land long
> ago. The Arabs aren't even from the area, they are from the Arabian
> peninsula and only came to the area as part of the invading Muslim army.
> Secondly, as I explained a few days ago in reply to another who posted the
> same propaganda you just did:

That's the most disingenuous paragraph I've seen in a long time, Ron.

The Jewish people originated in Iran, and did not arrive in Palestine
until the time of Joshua, about 1230 BC. That's not "over 4000 years".
It isn't exactly "their land" by reason of the kingdom that David
established; it fell apart after David's son Solomon died 78 years
later. Nor is the rule by the Maccabees impressive; it lasted less
than a century. And they haven't lived there *continuously* - in the
late 19th century, there were only about 25,000 Jews in Palestine.

Moreover, it would have been hard for Muslims to invade *anything* 
much before the 600s, as Mohammed wasn't born until 570 AD.

Modern Palestinians are the descendents of the Canaanite and
Philistine tribes the originally inhabited Palestine. They controlled
the land directly from 2000 BC to 1000 BC, and held the majority 
of all government positions during rule by the arabs (about 1300
years), rule by the Romans (about 700 years), rule by Iranians
(about 600 years), rule by the Ottomans (about 400 years), and
rule by the Macedonians (about 200 years)

> Land has changed hands after wars for as long as history, 
> why is the world so focused on this piece of land? 

That was my *point*, Ron. The people whose families have
lived there for a hundred generations want to have it - and that
seems reasonable.

In 1880, the population of Palestine was less than 5% Jewish.
Even now, almost half of all Israeli jews are immigrants. Why
move *there*, when there are plenty of places that would welcome
them?

About 2/3 of all Jews in Europe were killed during WWII. I can
appreciate that Jews want a safe place to live; my people had
their own Holocaust of sorts. In 1500 AD, there were 40 million
native Americans, and today, we number less than 2 million.
But if we can make room for the Irish, the French, the Italian,
and the English on this continent, we can surely make room 
for the Jews. The largest Jewish city in the world is already here. 
Why not buy Israel, and move all the rest of the Jews here?  

The only reason I can think of *not* to do it is hatred of the 
Palestinians - and this is getting to be too crowded a planet
to afford that kind of hatred.

deke




















------------------------
 "The church is near but the road is icy; 
  the bar is far away but I will walk carefully." 
                            -- Russian Proverb